Dragon Maiden
by lederra
Summary: The story of Ederra and her impact on her world continues. Bad summary I know but I am no good at summaries. Also will be revamping some of the previous chapters soon, as I noticed that there are a lot of mistakes in them that I missed. ON HIATUS AT THE MOMENT but will be finished one day.
1. Dreaming

Dragon Maiden

Disclaimer: I do not own either the people or Dragons of Pern, only my O.C's that I have created for this story are mine.

A/N: I ask that you bear with me in the reading of this story and I know the first chapter will seem odd but hopefully as the story proceeds it will make sense…..Promise!

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><p>A clash of the drums was all they heard to warn them that the renegades were there, around the walls the fighters looked out into the misty fog, to see if they could estimate the enemy's number. All that could be seen was the fog thickening and the drizzling rain that made the conditions worse.<p>

Inside the great hall, the women were making ready for the wounded that were bound to come after the battle. In their minds these marauders were no different to those who had attacked before and would be defeated as the others had been but these marauders were to be different to the previous ones as they were about to discover.

A nervous tension were building on the walls surrounding the hold, the enemy had made no attempt to attack even though the drums could be heard banging in the distance.

"Why don't they attack?" one of the younger captains was heard to ask.

Turning, Darius who was Captain of the holds archers said "Don't be eager to die."

The young captain who had made the remark turned in the old man's direction and sneered at the older man, looking him up and down arrogantly.

"What would you know about being eager OLD MAN?"

"More than you do about living."

The young captain glared at Darius and was about to answer him when the voice of a woman was heard behind him.

"How dare you insult one of our greatest fighters?"

Turning the arrogant young man saw one of the archers glaring at him, a young woman who was dressed in the uniform of a scout, a sword hanging from her belt and a quiver of arrows over her shoulder. In her hands she carried a great bow; he didn't know her and had just come in a few days before from his hold where his father was a minor hold that was beholden to Karatchi. He had not seen the young woman who had challenged him and he did not care who she was, it was her lack of deferential attitude towards him as the son of a lord that angered him.

Before he could answer her the captain whom he had just insulted turned to the young woman in question and spoke to her.

"My lady, you should not be here, it is too dangerous."

"Old friend, if you think I am going to be down in the hall with the rest of the ladies while you and your men are up here fighting for this hold and all within its walls then you are greatly mistaken. I was trained to fight and fight I shall."

Undeterred, the young woman turned back to the arrogant young pup that was standing a little to one side of her, muttering under his breath about her respectful attitude towards him. She had seen the look in his eyes when Darius had addressed her after she had challenged the idiot, his muttering continued until she had had enough.

"If you have a problem standing here on the walls with the rest of the fighting men then I suggest that you go and join the rest of the women in the main hall, might be best suited for you."

Ryzgul exploded at her words and the laughter of those men who were standing on the walls close to him.

"HOW DARE YOU INSULT ME MADAM, I AM THE SON OF LORD DRAGUL," he screamed at her.

The young woman turned to him and in a quiet but commanding voice she was heard to say to him.

"How dare you try and be abusive to me or my men, you might be the son of Lord Dragul….a minor lord no less….BUT I am the daughter of Lord Holder Leriss and as such your superior in every way…..as for me challenging you….I dare because you are a COWARD."

The last word she shouted at him and all those within shouting distance herd her including her father, the High Lord Leriss.

Suddenly out of the fog an eerie scream was heard, like an animal being slaughtered.

"Now it begins." Darius was heard to say.

All along the walls, Captains shouted orders to their fighters and all present made ready for the approaching battle…


	2. Next Day

Dragon Maiden

A/N I don't own the Dragons of Pern or any of it's people, they are the property of Anne McCaffrey. Any O.C's however are mine.

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><p>Ederra woke with a start and as the dream began to fade, she slumped back in her bed. She knew she couldn't stay there though, there was too much to be done. Karachi Hold was hosting a gathering the following day but the dream had disturbed her. It was as though the battle was taking place for real but the people on the walls of the hold were people that she did not know except Darius but he was not an old man as he had been in her dream but a young man of barely 25 turns.<p>

A few turns older than herself, she had remembered playing with Darius as a child and going to a few of the gatherings with him when ever it had been possible to go between helping her father run the hold after her mother had passed away a few years ago and helping to raise her younger siblings. Some of that responsibility had been removed from her shoulders when her father had remarried five turns ago but her stepmother still relied on Ederra's knowledge of the hold and its people in the surrounding area.

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><p>Later that day, Ederra was in the kitchen instructing the kitchen drudges in what would be needed for the gather the following day, as well as for the formal meal being held later that evening. Ederra loved being in the huge hold kitchen, after the stillroom where all the herbs for healing were kept this was her second favourite place. She had always loved the smells that emanated from this place, even though she was a slight girl her appetite was that of a young dragon, never ending. She could 'eat for Pern', as her father use to joke when she was younger. It pleased him still that at least one of his many children had inherited his appetite. His other children, had very little appetite apart from his middle son, Ledriss, he like his older sister also seem to have inherited his great love for food.<p>

The meats on the spit were sizzling as they roasted and the aroma that filled the kitchen from the cooking meat was enough to make everyone's mouths water. Wherry, beef, a number of other types of meat, fish that had been caught had also been roasted alongside the meat. There were pastries baking and the ones that were baked were cooling on the sides, pastries of all kinds both savoury and sweet.

Ederra left the kitchen but on the way out she snagged one of the savoury pies, she would share it with her brother Ledriss and Darius as she knew both were out on the square in front of the hold, directing others. She also snagged a skin of wine, she knew both men would be thirsty, the weather of late had been extremely warm.

Finding both of them were relatively easy, both stood way above the others in hieght and were broad shouldered. Sometimes looking at Darius, Ederra would wonder if he was a sibling as well, he looked so much like Ledriss and one of her other brothers that sometimes she did wonder. She knew that her father like many men had children born out of wedlock and a number of mistresses, it was the way it was.

Both men when they spotted her, waved her over and were pleased that she had brought food and wine with her, as they sat and ate Darius noticed that Ederra seemed a bit distracted.

"What's up with you?"

Ederra looked up and just shrugged,

"Nothing...I just had a strange dream last night."

"About." Darius questioned her.

"A battle, the hold was under attack but it was just a dream." She said. "You were an old man in it."

"Nothing to worry about then." Darius joked back with her.

When the food was all finished, Ederra got up to go back to see what else needed to be done. Darius was concerned about the dream that she had had the previous night, although she had said it was nothing to worry about, he thought otherwise. Ederra had a tendancy of having dreams that came true. Although by the sound of it, this was one that would not come true for a very long time, if she was right about him being an old man at the time.


	3. Gathering

Dragon Maiden

A/N I don't own the Dragons of Pern or any of it's people, they are the property of Anne McCaffrey. Any O.C's however are mine. This chapter will be done in two parts!

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><p>The following day, the weather for the gather was just perfect! It seemed that people were coming from all over Pern, everywhere Ederra looked there were people. She had a momentary panic that there would not be enough food or drink to keep people going. She knew she was being silly but there seemed to be more than usual at the gather. Everywhere she looked she could see stalls flying their gather colours and the traders looked to be doing a roaring trade even though it was still early in the day.<p>

There was one stall that she was looking for in particular, even though it was still early, Ederra was hungry and she knew that one of the stallholders was about due to set his wares on his table. Hot bubbling wherry pies, she just loved them, at a gather there was nothing better to have than just out of the oven wherry pies with ice cold wine. She caught sight of the stall she was looking for but as she was about to move towards it her way was blocked.

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><p>Over in the stables her brother Ledriss was getting to know one of the kitchen drudges, he had been getting to know her for the last few months ever since he had noticed her for the first time during a gathering that had been held to celebrate his father reaching 60 turns of age. Lately however he had started to feel the attraction that he originally had for her wane and she was now becoming boring and clingy. Wainting to know where he was and who he was with all the time, I mean who the hell did she think she was, his girlfriend.<p>

"LEDRISS,"

He heard his name being called and he slowly got up to see what his friend Darius wanted.

"What?"

He called down to his friend from where he was up in the hayloft. Darius was standing near the door of the stables, in his gather best.

"Your father looking for you and before you ask I don't know what he wants you for." He told Ledriss, who had looked annoyed when Darius had told him his father was looking for him.

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><p>On the other side of the gather, Ederra had finally made it to the stall that had the Wherry pies only to find that the last one had been brought and eaten by her cousin Kaltia. Kaltia looked at her contemptously as she popped the last of the pie into her mouth and Ederra felt the urge to wipe that contempuous smile off her face but she didn't, She knew that today of all days that her behaviour was being watched by her stepmother. There were a number of members from other famillies there that her stepmother was interested in possibly marrying her eldest stepdaughter off to. For some reason Ederra was considered a good catch.<p>

From across the field, she could hear the music and singing coming from the stage that had been set up for the harpers and musicians and although the main musical festivities would not take place until later in the afternoon and early evening. There was already people gathering there to listen to the occassional harper sing and maybe join in themselves.

The stall holder was trying to get her attention and as she turned to him, she saw him bring two pies out from under his stall.

"I saw you heading this way my lady and I know how much you love my pies. So I put 2 aside for you."

He said with a grin.

"Oh I love you,"

Ederra told him jokingly and then set off towards the harpers. To sit and listen to them for a while while she munched on her pies.


	4. Gathering Part 2

Dragon Maiden

A/N I don't own the Dragons of Pern or any of it's people, they are the property of Anne McCaffrey. Any O.C's however are mine.

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><p>Part 2<p>

The day had been long but enjoyable and all as they settled down for the evening entertainment agreed that it had been one of the best gathers they had been in to in many a turn. The food had bee good and plentiful and the wine had flowed now they all settled back to listen to the harpers.

On a table near the stage, Ledriss, Darius and Ederra sat contemplating thier parts that they had played in the days festivities. All three had won marks at the races that had taken place earlier that afternoon and were thinking about what to do with their winnings. Ledriss thought he might spend his on an evening of debaunchery whereas Darius was looking to saving it, he wanted a small holding of his own one day and looking at Edarra he hoped that she would share it with him as his wife. He smiled to himself at that thought, he knew that it was probaly unlikely, Ederra was a Lord Holders daughter whereas he was only a commoner but it was a nice dream to have.

Ederra didn't know what she was going to do with the marks that she had won, she knew what she would have liked to have done with it but knowing her she would problay use it for the good of others. However s she thought on it perhaps she could do both things, some new material for a new dress for her and something to help someone less fortunate than herself. By the three sisters there were enough of them of late it seemed, the last harvest had not been very good and so there was a number of people who went hungry this past winter.

Around the area the gather flags were flapping gently in the wind as the first of the harpers took to the stage, they started with a beautiful ballard about the dragons that protected their planet. Ederra loved hearing songs about the dragons, whenever a dragon passed over head she just loved to watch it in flight, they were such graceful creatures and she envied the bond the at the human rider and thier dragon had with each other. When the song ended people called for more and after a few more ballards the more energetic music was played to get people up off thier feet and dancing off the excess food that they had all consumed that day but Ederra was content to sit back and dream off dragons.

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><p>AN Sorry it such a short chapter but it is part of the previous chapter, so not really that short after all.


	5. Proposition

A/N: I am so sorry that it has been such a long time since I last updated this story but hope to now get a few more chapters out for you soon. I hit a major and I mean a MAJOR writer's bloc with this story, so I hope the following chapter is to your liking.

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><p>It had been a few days since the gathering and Ederra was busy, with a winter coming she knew that there was much to be done. She had spent the last few hours in the stillroom, sorting through the herbs that she knew would be need to treat or ward off many of the illnesses that seemed to pop up during the cold season.<p>

The stillroom had not been as well looked after as it should have been, its administration had been passed to one of her younger sister's by her stepmother. Something which Ederra had not been happy about but as her stepmother had pointed out to her, Ederra would not always be here at Karachi if her father was to find a suitable match for her with one of the other holder's sons. Ederra had snorted at that thought; she was not particularly bothered about marrying one of the many arrogant upstarts that had started to arrive at the hold, now that she was old enough for a husband.

Glancing irritably around at the mess her sister had got the stillroom into with her mismanagement, Ederra sighed it would take a lot of hard work and time to get it back to the way it had been before it had been taken out of her hands.

"My lady," the sound of her father's oldest friend and faithful captain of his guards disturbed her thoughts and she turned to see what he wanted.

"Your father request your presence in his office."

"For what?"

"I do not know my lady….but there is another Lord with him, I believe it is the Lord Holder of Fort hold. Grogis I believe is."

Ederra groaned, she thought to herself not another father wanting to offer his son as a possible suitor for my hand. She remembered the last clot that had tried for her hand, his father had been the lord holder of Bitra and he had been a total clot when it had come to anyone else's feelings and needs, thinking only of his own. Glancing down to her attire which was somewhat stained with the work that she had been doing to try and clear the mess that she had found the stillroom in, she nodded to the Captain and asked him to inform her father that she would be straight there as soon as she had changed in to another dress.

Not long after she had been summoned Ederra was standing outside the massive door that guarded her father's many secrets, as a child she and her brother Ledriss had often tried peek with a healthy dose of fear into what they knew to be the room their father used to run his hold but they would often imagine that it was like a dragon's weyr filled with the great beasts that protected their world. It had been a silly game she knew but one which the two of them had relished playing. Taking a deep breath, she stepped bravely forward as she knocked and then pushed open the great door when she heard her father's voice inside shout for her to enter.

"You asked to see me father?"

Ederra curtsied politely to her father and his guest, both men were sitting in the comfy chairs that her father seemed to enjoy having in his office, they were not far from the huge desk, that seemed to be constantly covered with the scrolls with demands and other tasks that it took to run the hold that never seemed to end.

Ederra's father stood up and approached his daughter and taking her hand in his he led her towards his guest who she could see was indeed Lord Holder Grogis of Fort.

"Lord Grogis, it has been a long time since you have visited us here at Karachi hold. Are you well sir?"

Ederra politely asked him. He was a huge man, just like her father standing at over 6ft and despite his age, he never seemed to look as though he was never stooping with age like some of the older people did and still worked and played, she had been told by others as though he was still in his early twenties.

"I am well Ederra and yourself?"

"Same as usual my Lord."

Ederra smiled back at the man, she did in fact like Lord Grogis, he was not as arrogant as some of the older lords who had visited the hold of late and had always been like a second father to her and her siblings. She remembered that somewhere along the family line that her mother and Lord Grogis were related somehow, as cousins she thought but she could not remember rightly where it was their families had been connected.

She was brought out of her musings by her father who tapped her lightly on her arm, he knew his daughter well enough to know that she had been daydreaming about something and had not heard a word he had said. He smiled as he thought about his little girl, no young woman he corrected himself but in his heart she would always be his little girl.

"Lord Grogis is here with a proposition for you and me, he would like for you and one of his sons to get better acquainted and perhaps if you are agreeable a union between the two of you, joining our family and his as one."

Ederra looked from her father to Lord Grogis, she was not keen on the idea but she knew that she was required to do her duty to her hold and so she kept her true thoughts to herself as she heard herself agreeing to what it was Lord Grogis was suggesting.

"Good…..good." Lord Grogis proclaimed from his seat that he had not moved from since entering the room.

"I shall send my son here to Karachi hold for the short term of fostering that you were suggesting so that the two of them can get to know each other a little better."

He told Ederra's father who was smiling and looked pleased with his daughter's decision but she could see that his eyes looked sad all though he hid it well. In fact well enough for the other lord not to notice but then she thought Grogis sometimes did not see what was right in front of him.

"Perhaps he can come here directly after the gathering at Bendan Weyr, there are eggs ready to be hatched there soon."

"Of course and bring Ederra, I am sure she would love to see a hatching, you have never been to Bendan Weyr my dear, have you?"

"No Lord Grogis, I have not had the honour to attend a hatching before."

"Excellent…..I am sure you will enjoy it my dear. Well until we meet again at Bendan Weyr for the hatching I will bid you both good day. I have much work that still needs doing back at my own hold."

Ederra curtsied again politely as the Fort holder made his way out of the room and up to where he knew a dragon and its rider was waiting patiently to return him to Fort hold. Her father had offered to escort him but he had declined saying that he knew their hold well enough to find his own way and pointing to the overloaded desk, scrolls were threatening to fall off of it, he chuckled that by the look of it that he had better see to them.

"Will that be all father, I really do need to get back to finishing the stillroom in readying it for the winter."

Her father nodded and Ederra left the room returning to the familiar smells and scents of the stillroom.


End file.
